Paper short abstract:

The paper discusses implications of vital materialism (Bennett 2010) for analysing Australian Wandjina rock art leading us to the question of when is art (Goodman 1977) as the imagery is transferred from immobile rock surface to contemporary art works, becoming mobile objects of desire (Butler 1987).

Paper long abstract:

The rock paintings 'art' label has been contested as Aboriginal traditional owners consider them to be powerful images - manifestations of ancestor beings themselves. They explore the imagery's transmission onto canvas as a way to strengthen indigenous culture. Labelling the images on rock as 'art' and the subsequent contemporary art production created contestations which I seek to discuss in the light of the question proposed by Goodman of when is art (1977). Therefore I look at its relation to Bennett's concept of vibrant matter which denotes efficacy and the condition of possibility which distinguishes things from objects. I argue that Goodman's approach contributed important implications which have been strengthened in debates of new materialism.

In the case of the Australian rock art, research partners talked about the 'universal resonance of art with the modern human' in contrast to humanities lack of attentiveness towards the environment. I state that the viewer's attentiveness can be better understood through analysing its contested art discourse in terms of vital materiality. Artistic translations from immobile rock art to mobile objects of desire (Butler 1987), which circulate not only through the hands of tourists as souvenirs but through the international fine art market, illustrate the artistic tradition's different competences in accordance to its spatiotemporal performance. Furthermore the approach offers a counter-narrative to value judgements of aesthetics and sophistication of skill which have been used as colonising elements in the art discourse about rock art imagery in light of 'fantasies of conquest and consumption' (Bennett 2010:ix).